Hermione caught her breath and pulled slowly away from Draco. Her head was still spinning when she opened her eyes to find his eyes staring back at her. “I – I… um--,” her voice seemed to have flown away.

Draco took a deep breath and when Hermione didn’t say anything, he got nervous. That’s when he took into his surroundings and that only made his nerves worse. “Uh, I have to go,” he said abruptly and bolted from the room, leaving a very confused Hermione.

Hermione could feel her face growing hot, and with all the whisperings and murmurs throughout the Great Hall, she became flustered and also left. She ran to her dormitory where she crawled into bed and sobbed herself to sleep.

After leaving the Great Hall, Draco ran and kept running until he felt his lungs burn. He had run all the way to the Quidditch Pitch. He didn’t know what brought him there; he hadn’t been there in quite some time. Draco climbed the nearest stands and sat down to catch his breath.

All he could do was curse at his stupidity for even beginning to think that Hermione Granger would have feelings for him. He thought back to the time they had spent together and tried to figure out how he had taken things so wrong.

Draco had been sitting there for a while, when the sound of someone approaching, startled him causing him to nearly fall off the stands, “Perhaps you shouldn’t have snogged her under an infestation of Nargles.”

“Luna what the bloody hell are you doing here?!”

“I was trying to see the Parvavexas. They usually dance on the Pitch at night, it seems I have missed them again,” she replied.

“The Parva—what?”

“Parvavexas, they live on Quidditch Pitches.”

“Uh, okay. That doesn’t answer why you came up here.”

“I heard you scolding yourself.”

“Oh, that,” Draco said sheepishly. “Hermione is never going to speak to me again, is she?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but running off probably didn’t help. She ran off crying after you left,” Luna replied.

“Crying?”

“Yeah, I suppose the shock of it all and then you left, it hurt her feelings.”

“When she didn’t say anything, I thought she was mad. UGH!” Draco was, if possible, even madder with himself. “Luna I need to go find her, do you know where she is?”

“I suppose to her dormitory, so you will have to wait until tomorrow,” Luna replied and then headed back down the later.

Draco walked back to his common room, when he got there; the room was mostly empty except for a couple sixth year boys in the corner. Draco sat in a chair by the fire place, thinking about what he would say to Hermione the next time he saw her.

The embers in the fire had nearly died out when Draco awoke still in the chair. Although it was nearing three in the morning, he was not alone.

“Are you sure you can get Aschleah’s Grimoire?” the first boy asked in hushed voices.

“Yes, father keeps it hidden in his study, but I know the spell to find it,” the other boy replied.

“What about the vestibule? There is nothing in any of the journals about its location.”

“—Shhh you’re gonna wake him up.

“Shouldn’t you be in bed, Gabe?” Draco asked.

“Shove off, coward,” he replied.

“You are so not worth it,” Draco said and went towards the stairs.

“Just like a coward. Someone should teach that nancy boy a lesson,” the second boy, Landovin, said standing up.

Scarcely above a whisper, Draco muttered a spell and Landovin was on the floor seemingly frozen, “You confuse the aversion to a fight with cowardice. The difference is, I will abstain from a fight that isn’t worth my time, but if it is a fight you seek, I will end you. Do not make that confusion again.

Draco was used to the other students shunning him, but occasionally there was a Voldemort supporter that blamed Draco and his family for Voldemort’s downfall.

He went to his dormitory and went back to sleep. When he awoke the next day, he went to look for Hermione. Eventually he found her in the back of the library buried in a book.

“Hey Hermione,” he said.

“Um, hi Draco,” she replied.

“I—uh I—about last night,” Draco, who was almost never at a loss for words, suddenly couldn’t put his words together, “I am so sorry. I thought you were mad and when you didn’t say anything, I panicked,” after a few minutes of silence, he added, “Say something?”

“I thought you regretted it, but seriously Draco, what is this, what are we doing?” Hermione was just as confused as Draco and really wanted to understand what was going on more than anything.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

“I don’t either and until I do, all I can offer is friendship,” she asked.

Draco might have been hurt by hearing this, but no one would have noticed, “Ok and Hermione—,”

“Yeah?” she replied.

“I did not,” he leaned closer to her; his lips inches from hers and then coolly reached for a book that was just above her head, “regret it, I mean.”

Spending time together did cause quite a stir throughout the school, but despite the rumors and whispers, their friendship grew.

They often worked together on homework and studies. In mid-February, after finishing a really lengthy project, Draco and Hermione decided to go to Hogsmead for some butterbeer. Hermione had taken her seat in a corner booth and Draco went to the counter to order their drinks.

A moment later the bell at the door chimed, and in walked the very last person Hermione had expected to see, “Ron!? Uh…Hi. What are you doing here?” she asked.

“’Mione, its Valentine’s Day. I am here to see you and to say how I am sorry for blowing up at you before. I am sorry that my schedule has been so busy and I didn’t make enough time for you.”

Ron seemed sincere, and part of Hermione was really happy to see him. After all that had happened between them, she did still love him.

Hermione was only half listening while she looked up at Draco at the counter. He saw what was going on and just left, not wanting a sequel to the last time Ron saw them together. Hermione understood and ordered lunch for her and Ron. They spent the next couple hours talking and laughing and catching up on everything going on in the Weasley family; Bill and Fleur’s new baby girl and Arthur’s promotion at work.

“I miss us Hermione,” he said reaching for her hands.

“I miss us too,” she replied smiling.

“I know I have been a bloody idiot but will you have me back?” he asked.

“What about your work schedule? Has it changed? I don’t want things to be the way they were.”

“I quit the Quidditch team, it’s not really the same without Fred and Harry, and I hated that I put it before you and Hermione I promise that will never happen again.”

Hermione believed him, “I suppose I’ll have you back then, Ronald Weasley, Do not make me regret it.”

Ron pulled her into a kiss, as comforting and familiar as it felt; Hermione couldn’t help thinking of her kiss with Draco.